Title: The Night Swim 

Author: Megan Goldin 

Publisher: St. Martin's Press 

Release Date: August 04, 20202

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Length: 344 pages

Source: Purchased from Book of the Month

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Find it Here: Amazon // Goodreads

After the first season of her true crime podcast became an overnight sensation and set an innocent man free, Rachel Krall is now a household name―and the last hope for thousands of people seeking justice. But she’s used to being recognized for her voice, not her face. Which makes it all the more unsettling when she finds a note on her car windshield, addressed to her, begging for help.

The small town of Neapolis is being torn apart by a devastating rape trial. The town’s golden boy, a swimmer destined for Olympic greatness, has been accused of raping a high school student, the beloved granddaughter of the police chief. Under pressure to make Season Three a success, Rachel throws herself into interviewing and investigating―but the mysterious letters keep showing up in unexpected places. Someone is following her, and she won’t stop until Rachel finds out what happened to her sister twenty-five years ago. Officially, Jenny Stills tragically drowned, but the letters insists she was murdered―and when Rachel starts asking questions, nobody seems to want to answer. The past and present start to collide as Rachel uncovers startling connections between the two cases that will change the course of the trial and the lives of everyone involved.

Electrifying and propulsive, The Night Swim asks: What is the price of a reputation? Can a small town ever right the wrongs of its past? And what really happened to Jenny?

My Review:

The Night Swim by Megan Goldin is the first book that I've read by her and she has several previously published books. The Night Swim is told from multiple POVs: from the main characters all the way down to the small minor characters. Long story short, the main character, Rachel, goes down to Florida to cover a rape trial because she is a podcaster. While she's there, she unravels the missing pieces of a 20 year old cold case. 

Have you ever listened to a murder mystery podcast? I listen all the time, I'm completely obsessed so I thought I would love this book! But I found it to be a little slow and not all that mysterious. Really, the only thing that kept me hooked was the cold case and wondering if she was going to solve it or not. I didn't find the sections about the rape trial all that interesting and I actually though that whole story line was pretty predictable. 

Another aspect of the book that I didn't enjoy was the multiple POV's. As a long time reader, I have found that when a book is well written and uses changing POVs to follow a couple different characters, I really enjoy seeing the perspective of different characters. But I found The Night Swim to have too many perspectives and it took away from the story. 

Even though I've said some negative things about The Night Swim, I did enjoy the book overall. It was an interesting story that had me hooked to the point that I wanted to know what would happen at the end. I personally love a good shock at the end, nevertheless I still enjoyed it. 

Long Overdue Life Update

 

It has been a long time since I've posted anything on my blog. I would like to say that I've been reading a ton of books and I've been doing so many things that I can't wait to share with everyone but that simply isn't the case. The benefit of having a free blog is that it pauses when I pause and it's always there for when I'm ready to come back. 

As I'm writing this, I literally can't believe the last review I post was over a year ago! And I honestly haven't read anything since. I recently joined a book club with a couple of girls at my church and I'm currently reading American Royals by Katherine McGee and it's reminding me why I gave up young adult books all those years ago. I've kept up my subscription to Book of the Month but I haven't had a chance to read any of the books. I just like to think that I'm building up my collection of books that I'm going to want to read later! 

The kids have been growing up so fast and I've been trying to enjoy every moment I can! Emery is 3 now (which blows my mind) and RJ will be 2 in October! They love to read books so I think I might have to start adding some posts about the books that they love on the blog, as well!

Something new that I've added back into my life that is completely different from the blog is that I've gotten back into studying the Bible. By reading God's Word every morning, I feel so much better throughout the day. I have less worry and more peace and clarity. 

I can't wait to expand my blog into so much more: back to more review, talking about children's books and talking about what God has been teaching me through my daily Bible study. I'm so glad my blog was right here waiting for me when I was ready to come back. I'm so glad the kids are getting older, my district and my job are going back to school full time next month and I feel like we're finally getting back to normal life. Which means I can finally get back to picking up my books and reading like normal again!

Book Review: Her Every Fear

Title: Her Every Fear
Author: Peter Swanson
Publisher: William Morrow
Release Date: January 10, 2017
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Length: 384 pages
Source: Purchased
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Find it Here: Amazon // Goodreads

Growing up, Kate Priddy was always a bit neurotic, experiencing momentary bouts of anxiety that exploded into full-blown panic attacks after an ex-boyfriend kidnapped her and nearly ended her life. When Corbin Dell, a distant cousin in Boston, suggests the two temporarily swap apartments, Kate, an art student in London, agrees, hoping that time away in a new place will help her overcome the recent wreckage of her life. 

Soon after her arrival at Corbin’s grand apartment on Beacon Hill, Kate makes a shocking discovery: his next-door neighbor, a young woman named Audrey Marshall, has been murdered. When the police question her about Corbin, a shaken Kate has few answers, and many questions of her own—curiosity that intensifies when she meets Alan Cherney, a handsome, quiet tenant who lives across the courtyard, in the apartment facing Audrey’s. Alan saw Corbin surreptitiously come and go from Audrey’s place, yet he’s denied knowing her. Then, Kate runs into a tearful man claiming to be the dead woman’s old boyfriend, who insists Corbin did the deed the night that he left for London. 

When she reaches out to her cousin, he proclaims his innocence and calms her nerves--until she comes across disturbing objects hidden in the apartment and accidentally learns that Corbin is not where he says he is. Could Corbin be a killer? What about Alan? Kate finds herself drawn to this appealing man who seems so sincere, yet she isn’t sure. Jet-lagged and emotionally unstable, her imagination full of dark images caused by the terror of her past, Kate can barely trust herself, so how could she take the chance on a stranger she’s just met?

My Thoughts:

I love Peter Swanson's writing and I really loved one of his earlier books The Kind Worth Killing. So I was really excited to finally read Her Every Fear. I really like the way his writing just flows and it's so easy to read. 

Her Every Fear follows Kate as she moves from London to Boston as she apartment switches with her cousin for six months. Kate is the type of person who always believes the worst is going to happen. She had gone through a really traumatic even back in England and moving to Boston is really her first venture out of her home since then. When she arrives in Boston and goes to the apartment for the first time, someone is pounding on the neighbors door and says that the neighbor is missing. Of course, Kate thinks that worst; that the neighbor has been murdered and it turns out to be true! 

But I gave this book 3 stars. Here's why: I don't typically enjoy characters like Kate. She frequently has panic attacks, has anxiety so bad she can't go to the grocery store, gets lost in thought and realizes it's been hours. But what I did like about her is that she didn't try to be a vigilante and solve the crime herself. Whenever she found something, she almost immediately took it to the police. Another reason I game this book 3 stars was because the ending was a little too neat for my taste. I enjoy a little bit of an open ending but this one tied up all the loose ends. 

I would definitely say that if your a fan of Peter Swanson, Her Every Fear is worth reading. I thought it was a really entertaining thriller with some fun little twists and turns. This was the second Peter Swanson book that I've read and it definitely won't be my last. 

Can't Wait Wednesday: The Mall

Can't Wait Wednesday is a weekly blog hop of anticipated book releases hosted by Tessa @ Wishful Endings!

Title: The Mall
Author: Megan McCafferty
Release Date: June 09, 2020
Find it Here: Amazon // Goodreads

New York Times bestselling author Megan McCafferty returns to her roots with this YA coming of age story set in a New Jersey mall. 

The year is 1991. Scrunchies, mixtapes and 90210 are, like, totally fresh. Cassie Worthy is psyched to spend the summer after graduation working at the Parkway Center Mall. In six weeks, she and her boyfriend head off to college in NYC to fulfill The Plan: higher education and happily ever after.
But you know what they say about the best laid plans... 

Set entirely in a classic “monument to consumerism,” the novel follows Cassie as she finds friendship, love, and ultimately herself, in the most unexpected of places. Megan McCafferty, beloved New York Times bestselling author of the Jessica Darling series, takes readers on an epic trip back in time to The Mall.

Why I want this:

I am a longtime fan of Megan McCafferty. I LOVED the Jessica Darling series! I liked Bumped. It was weird but okay. But The Mall sounds like it is going to take me straight back to middle school in the 90's. I can't wait to jump into all this nostalgia! It sounds like it's going to be so fun! 

Podcasts I've Been Listening To: April 2020

I love listening to podcasts. Podcasts are my thing. I've been listening to various different podcasts since about 2009 and I've been hooked ever since. I used to listen to music in my free time or in my commute to work, but since I've discovered podcasts, I've slowly phased music out until I hardly listen to it at all. Since podcasts are something that I love to talk about, here are some of my current favorites.

1. Potterless Podcast: A Grown Man Reads Harry Potter for the First Time

Mike Schubert had never read the Harry Potter series as a kid and even only saw the first couple of movies. In this podcast, he starts reading the books and jokingly makes fun of all the plot holes. Each episode has a guest host that is usually a Harry Potter fanatic. I've really been enjoying this podcast so I've decided to use it as a way to re-read the series. Currently I'm reading and listening my way through the third book, only continuing to read after I've completed the appropriate chapter.

2. Down the Hill: The Delphi Murders

One of my favorite type of podcasts are true crime podcasts, specifically cold case murder podcasts. The Delphi murders are not necessarily a cold case as it's still an open investigation, but it is just as fascinating. Basically, it's about two teenage girls who were murdered and found on the outskirts of their small town.

3. After Buzz TV's Married at First Sight

One of my favorite guilty pleasure TV shows is Married at First Sight. I love this experiment where strangers marry each other and try to decide if they could make a marriage work. After watching the show, I like to listen to commentary and I love hearing other people's perspectives on these relationships. I also do this with The Bachelor, when it's on, where I listen to an after show podcast. It's very satisfying to know that other people also like to watch these people's train wreck lives!

These are just a few of the podcasts that I'm currently enjoying in my headphones. And I'm always on the hunt for new ones and open to recommendations! So if you know of any that you think I might like, I would love to know in the comments!

Book Review: The Turn of the Key

Title: The Turn of the Key
Author: Ruth Ware
Publisher: Gallery/Scout Press
Release Date: August 06, 2019
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Length: 337 pages
Source: Library
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Find it Here: Amazon // Goodreads

When she stumbles across the ad, she’s looking for something else completely. But it seems like too good an opportunity to miss—a live-in nannying post, with a staggeringly generous salary. And when Rowan Caine arrives at Heatherbrae House, she is smitten—by the luxurious “smart” home fitted out with all modern conveniences, by the beautiful Scottish Highlands, and by this picture-perfect family.
What she doesn’t know is that she’s stepping into a nightmare—one that will end with a child dead and herself in prison awaiting trial for murder. 

Writing to her lawyer from prison, she struggles to explain the unraveling events that led to her incarceration. It wasn’t just the constant surveillance from the cameras installed around the house, or the malfunctioning technology that woke the household with booming music, or turned the lights off at the worst possible time. It wasn’t just the girls, who turned out to be a far cry from the immaculately behaved model children she met at her interview. It wasn’t even the way she was left alone for weeks at a time, with no adults around apart from the enigmatic handyman, Jack Grant. 

It was everything. 

She knows she’s made mistakes. She admits that she lied to obtain the post, and that her behavior toward the children wasn’t always ideal. She’s not innocent, by any means. But, she maintains, she’s not guilty—at least not of murder. Which means someone else is.

My Thoughts:

The Turn of the Key was the perfect book to get me back into reading. It has almost everything that I wanted at the time. This is the fourth book that I've read from Ruth Ware and she has quickly shot to the top of my list of auto-buy authors!

The creepiness in The Turn of the Key was what I loved the most about it! I kept wondering to myself: is this house really haunted or are the children just trying to scare her? It's what made me continue to come back to the book, I just had to know what was going on! I also liked that the story went into the history of the house and talked about some of the bad and tragic events that had happened there, which further led me to believe that maybe it was haunted!

Even though I liked the ending, I think some parts of it were a little unbelievable. I don't want to give away any spoilers, but if you've read it then you know what I'm talking about. Also, the whole premise of the book is that the main character, Rowan, is supposed to be writing a letter to a perspective lawyer. Who would write a 325 page letter? I just found some parts of the book to be a little far fetched. But I still really enjoyed The Turn of the Key and I think it was a really good mystery/thriller!

How I'm Slowing the Spread and Spending My Time

Wow! What a time to be alive! I literally can't believe that we are living through an actual pandemic right now. A lot of craziness is going on in the world and in order to keep me and my family safe, we have been social distancing, self-isolating or quarantined or whatever you want to call it.

We are on week 3. Day 23 as I'm writing this.

I'm lucky and privileged to be a teacher right now. I'm a special education teacher in CCSD in Nevada and luckily they have allowed us to figure out this whole distance learning thing so I haven't lost any pay. I'm lucky and privileged to be able to send my children to a private daycare that was nice enough to let us pull them out without having to pay for the time that they're not in attendance. That right there is saving us so much money. We are lucky and privileged that my husband is a real estate agent and somehow still has business coming in with the interest rates being so low. We are lucky and privileged to live in a state that hasn't been hit nearly as hard as some of the others. We are lucky and privileged and I'm so grateful.

I'm grateful for the extra time that I'm getting to spend with my children. I'm grateful that we have a nice neighborhood where we can walk around daily. I'm grateful for the technology that allows me to participate in weekly staff and special ed meetings. I'm grateful that my children are young enough so this time is just fun at home time and that they don't understand fear and anxiety yet.

Now that I have a lot of extra time, I've picked up my books again and gotten back into my blog. I'm also taking my last three classes over the summer so even though school will be starting again, I know I'll still have time to keep up with reading and blogging.

Although there is a lot going on in the world right now, there is still so much for us to be grateful for. I hope everyone out there is staying safe and healthy.